(no subject)

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth had found the strange stone walking home from a day of classes. She was hurrying along, knowing she was to meet Delsin that night to eat take-out dinner at his place, when she nearly tripped on one of them just laying there in the middle of the road. It was a strange enough thing that she stopped and decided to pick it up (perhaps it was owned by something? But it was quite beautiful), though she was running so late she didn't bother inspecting it.

She arrived at his place a few minutes afterwards, the odd bauble still in her hands. She put it down long enough to fix her hair before knocking on his door with her free hand, hoping she didn't look too terrible from the walk.

She knew this wasn't anything that was meant to be 'dressy', but she did want to be presentable, after all.

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[cagedlamb]

"I don't know." she admitted, letting out a soft, embarrassed laugh. Maybe she was seeing things. But she could have truly sworn -

Picking the odd orb-shaped object up with two hands, she actually took the time now to start inspecting it. It didn't seem like anything at first - it was just as it'd been when she was carrying it before.

"It's strange looking though, isn't it?" she asked, staring briefly at the shiny surface of it. She was going to keep talking, but she suddenly saw it again. " - Delsin. Look."

A strange, slowly swirling pattern had begun to form on the surface of the stone she was looking at. For something that had seemed like something just above a rock, the fact it seemed like it was suddenly coming alive certainly was startling.

[infamousdelsin]

Delsin leans against her back, looking over her shoulder at the stone. "Whoa, that . . . that is not good, Liz." But he finds he can't look away. "What the hell?"

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth couldn't look away, either. She barely heard Delsin, even, as she watched the swirling slowly settle and a picture emerge.

A man stands in front of her slumped over form. Nearby, a child struggles in one of his lackey's arms. He's screaming at her, a paper in her face. Despite the situation, a knowing smile slowly spreads.

She tells him what he wants to know, no questions asked. He's pleased, barking orders to get 'the genetic freak'. And then he hits her again, and for a few moments, she's still. Not dead, though, not yet, and the little girl - a strange looking one, with a sunken expression that seemed wrong - runs to her. She starts to sing a song in French softly as she takes hold of her hand. Blood trickles down Elizabeth's forehead after a moment of listening, and then that's it, she slumps over, a small doll's head falling from her hand and onto the floor.

She's gone, and the girl remains by her side with the backdrop of a strange, otherworldly city behind them.

It took her a few seconds to realize she had just seen herself die. Even after it sunk in, she just kept staring at it in shock, her body starting to tremble.

What had that been? What was that?

[infamousdelsin]

Delsin sees something different, though he doesn't realize this right away. As he looks into the swirling stone over her shoulder, he sees himself, and Liz, and they're both— they're old. There's a couple sharing the room with them. They're sitting, enjoying coffee. A young boy runs into the room and climbs into Delsin's lap. He calls him Grampie.

One of those younger people is Delsin's child. He and Liz are married here. The idea thrills and terrifies him at once, and he tears his eyes away to look at Liz.

She looks worse than he does. She's shaking, he can feel it against his chest.

"Whoa, Liz, you okay?" He doesn't think marrying him, growing old with him, is that scary, is it?

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth immediately felt confusion well up in her. Surely he could understand why what they'd just seen had shaken her. Instead, he seemed more baffled at her than at anything else.

"I - didn't you see me?" she asked, turning her head to look at him, her eyes wide and scared. "I was - where was that? What is this thing?"

[infamousdelsin]

"What d'you mean?" he asks. "I saw both of us. We were old, and— why? What did you see?" He shifts so he can grip her shoulder, rubbing, arm framing her back. He wants to be as reassuring as he can be, because he's pretty sure that they didn't see the same thing.

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth wasn't old at all in what she'd seen, so hearing as much made her even more confused. Confused and honestly scared. She didn't answer at first, trying to collect herself.

She probably didn't do a good job.

"I - I was dead. Killed," she said in a whisper, the words almost "Delsin, I don't - I don't even know where I was. But I was just -"

[infamousdelsin]

Delsin doesn't even let her finish. He just pulls her close, wraps around her, and sort of palms the ball out of Liz's hands and away from them both.

"Okay," he whispers. More loudly, firmly, he says, "Okay, alright, let's think about this, okay? You saw— you saw something pretty awful. But I saw something totally different. Why would we look into the same thing and see two different things?"

[cagedlamb]

"I don't - I don't know. It makes no sense. None of this makes sense," she stammered. She didn't know about anything. She wanted to throw the thing, to get rid of it, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was hard enough putting it down where she'd picked it up, to look away.

But at least it was out of her hands. At least there was that.

[infamousdelsin]

"Because it's not real," he says firmly. "It's some kind of trick. It's giving off a sound, or a smell, or, or, or something, and it's fucking with our heads." He leans back to cup her face, to meet her eyes. "That's all it is, okay? This thing is fucking with us."

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth tried to focus on his words. He must be right, he must be. If she believed otherwise, she did not know how she could bear it.

"Y - yes, of course," she said, biting her lip nervously. She stepped away then, slowly sinking down into the couch. Her hands were still trembling as she took a deep breath. "I wish I never had picked it up..."

[infamousdelsin]

"I know," he murmurs. He sits beside her and takes both of her hands in his, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. "We're okay. You're okay, alright?" He reaches up to rub the back of her neck. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you."